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Most Misfit
Christmas Specials fall into one of two extremes:
saccharine and stupid, or "edgy" and un-cuddly.
This one, however, is a whole other story. I've never
seen a special quite like this.

I've seen childish, I've
seen adult, but I've never seen EPIC tried before. Yes, The
Flight Before Christmas is an epic, and a darn good
one at that. Would you believe it's the most
groundbreaking special any network has aired in a long
time? Furthermore, would you believe that kind of special
comes in a box that looks like THIS?

It's actually a movie,
originally released as Nico and the Way to
the Stars. It was produced in Finland,
animated in Ireland, and had a theatrical
Norseland run before being translated, redubbed,
cut and repackaged into an American special. The
CBS version castrates it down to 45 minutes of
material, meaning nearly half the story is
missing. Fortunately the DVD contains the entire
movie and this is what we'll be using in our
review.

Nico, a wild reindeer,
lives in a concealed area of a northern forest with his
mother and other members of his herd.

The clan also includes
Julius, a small flying squirrel. Julius is kind of Nico's
adopted father, or father figure since he's not
romantically linked with Nico's mother. Yes, this little
rodent is his "dad." In the wrong hands this
could be really irritating, but here, it works. Why does
it work? Because Julius isn't the comic relief you think
he's gonna be. Despite his size, he truly cares about
Nico and constantly expresses concern for his safety.
It's an interesting relationship and you want to know
more.

Every now and then Nico
will see Santa's reindeer, or "the Flying
Forces" as other reindeer refer to them, zipping
around in the sky on a practice run. Nico would do
anything to meet the Flying Forces, because....one of
them may be his father. According to his mom, one evening
she was looking up at the stars when suddenly she was
whisked into the sky by the sleigh team, where she was
taken for a "magical ride through the clouds."
That is as specific as she gets; draw your own
conclusions from there.

Nico doesn't know if he's
really the son of a flying reindeer, but it would be
proven if he could fly himself, correct? Makes sense in
theory, but he doesn't know if he has that ability
because he can't seem to figure out how to do it. And the
secluded area the herd hides in doesn't allow much room
for takeoff practice. Julius knows what Nico's thinking
and orders him to stay within the limits of the
territory, or else hungry wolves prowling the area will
find their location.

You saw The Lion King,
so you know where this is going. Thanks to Nico trying to
fly in plain view, the herd is chased out of their home
forever by wolves, and it's all Nico's fault. Feeling
disgraced, Nico slowly turns his back on his family and
disappears into the snow.

Suddenly, there's a poodle
in this movie. She appears, nervously says something
about being separated from her tourist family, starts
following wolf pawprints, and disappears for ten minutes.
Then, she's back! I'm not sure what the point of her
existence is. She never meets Nico, only the wolves, and
is little more than a plot device. Or a different color
to stare at besides brown, blue and white.

The hungry wolves are
about to feast on her when she nervously suggests they
eat Santa's reindeer instead. Black Wolf, the snarling
head villain, apparently never thought about doing this
before, and skips the meal he could have had RIGHT NOW to
travel dozens of miles to a destination he may not be
able to find. The poodle is involuntarily inducted into
the pack for her suggestion, and would clearly love to
leave at any time.

Back with the reindeer
herd, they're distraught that Nico is nowhere to be seen.
Julius offers to set off looking for him, as he's the
only one who won't leave tracks in the snow for predators
to follow, being a literal flying squirrel.

Julius catches up with
Nico, but Nico is convinced he'd be better off with his
dad. Julius points out several facts: it's much less
dangerous to stay with his family, he doesn't know for
CERTAIN he has a dad in the Flying Forces, and he has no
idea how to get to their headquarters. None of this
deters Nico and eventually Julius has no choice but to
give in and follow the deer. By the way, they describe
their destination as "Santa's Fell." I love
that. It's not a mere workshop, it's a specific region of
mystery where few outsiders have trod.

Further into the forest
they hear bizarre nonsensical singing, and rush to the
source of the sound. It's our next character, Wilma the
weasel, and she's stuck on a branch. After Nico frees
her, she's furious. Why? Because she now owes him one,
and she doesn't want to owe anybody one. With that, she
leaves, but something tells me she'll be back.

Wilma is played by Emma
Roberts, the biggest star they could get for the English
dub. Well, Norm MacDonald is Julius, but....yeah.

They may need
"one" right away. Julius lectures Nico on the
importance of reading the signs of nature. He points out
a small cloud in front of his view of the sky and begins
to discuss what he believes the cloud signifies. While
he's postulating, a large cloud creeps up behind
him, blankets the area in snow and wind, and separates
the two temporarily.

Now that the wolves are
heading in the same direction Nico and Julius are,
they're bound to meet up. That's what happens, without
the wolves' knowledge (Nico is the one buried in the snow
there). One of the wolves, Specs, wants to know why they
can't just eat something else (it's a good question; one
I already asked). Black Wolf replies within hearing
distance of Nico that it stands to reason if they eat the
reindeer, they'll gain the ability of flight and take
their place on the sleigh team. Another wolf points out
Santa probably won't like that. Black Wolf says it
doesn't matter because they'll eat Santa too, and then
fly around the world on Christmas Eve, tumbling though
everybody's chimney and eating millions of children. In
short, everybody and every thing gets eaten eventually.
Then....I dunno, profit?

Nico's reflexes pick that
unfortunate moment to make him sneeze. His snow disguise
tumbles away and the wolves spot him. The chase is back
on!

Julius is somewhere else,
calling for Niko on the side of a cliff. Nico happens to
run in that direction and collides with him.
"CAN'T I LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR FIVE MINUTES!"
"We've gotta split up! Save yourself!"
"I'M NOT LEAVING YOU ALONE AGAIN! YOU ALWAYS MAKE
THINGS WORSE!!"

The high-speed chase
continues until Nico and Julius find themselves cornered.
It's a fifty-foot-high cliff face with a thick snow plume
on top! Where's that weasel??

Wilma shows up right on
cue and starts stomping holes all the way across the snow
plume. This makes it unstable and triggers an avalanche
right onto the wolf pack. Hopping onto Nico's back, Wilma
directs the frantically speeding Nico on the correct path
to escape the avalanche overtaking them.

Now that the heroes are
safe, Wilma asks out of curiosity where they're headed.
When they mention Santa's Fell, Wilma claims she used to
be a singer there. Julius is highly skeptical, but Nico
points out she's been pretty useful so far, so why not
let her help. Wilma agrees, but on one condition: she
gets the cushy ride atop Nico's antlers and Julius is
demoted to the wagging butt position.

Oh great....it didn't take
long for the wolves to dig themselves out of all that
snow. They're still after them, and now they've caught
up. At a running pace once again, Nico asks Wilma if she
knows a quicker path. "Sure, we just take a shortcut
across the River of Certain Doom! That'll lose 'em!"
River of what doom? That doesn't sound good....

It's easy for Wilma to hop
across the ice floes, but Nico may need a little coaxing.
He finally gets up the nerve, gives it a solid attempt,
and nails it on his first try. What a relief!
"The River of Certain Doom was a piece of
cake!" remarks Julius.

"That wasn't the
River of Certain Doom, it was the Trickle of Tranquility.
THAT'S the River of Certain Doom!" Wanda says, as
she points forward and the camera dips into a large
ominous canyon with a rushing river clear at the bottom.

Now would be a perfectly
poetic time to learn to fly! Alas, though Nico gets some
distance, it's not to be and the entire cast plummets
into the river.

Julius and Wanda escape
the water, but Nico is drifting on an ice floe, zonked
out, and he's heading for a waterfall! I know every
cartoon river ends in a waterfall, but if you think about
the geography on this one (canyon), it makes no sense.

Sensical or no, they've
got to wake Nico up! Julius and Wanda throw rocks at some
icicles holding up a large branch; this makes the branch
break into the river and blocks the floe from the flow
right before the big dip.

But now the current is
rolling the branch over -- it won't stay put for long.
Niko finally starts waking up, but he can't hold onto the
log. The current starts pushing it sideways and over the
cliff edge. Nico begins to tumble over! The squirrel and
weasel can barely hold on!

NICO FALLS!

Oh, um....never mind.
While they were screaming, the log drifed all the way to
the other side.

The wolves believe they're
dead now, so they can rest for a while and develop their
characters further. Wanda asks why Julius is so
overprotective of Nico. Julius reveals against the sunset
that he once had a family of the correct species, but
they were lost to wolves. Ever since then he's adopted
Nico instead.

This is followed by
another walking montage set to gorgeous backdrops lit by
northern lights. Wanda is leading them, which will prove
once and for all if she's all talk, or if she really does
have North Pole connections.

Looks like she was the
real deal. They made it to Santa's Fell, which, it turns
out, can only be breached through the green luminous
caves of a large mountain, filled with deadly traps. No
one has gotten through them without inside knowledge,
so....without this weasel they'd pretty much be dead five
times over. Julius still doesn't like her, though.

Shortly after, the wolves
also make it to Santa's Fell and enter the green cave,
but they aren't so lucky. Specs absentmindedly steps onto
a weighted panel and two crystal doors slam in both
directions, sealing them in.

The Santa's Workshop set
piece looks amazing. You can really tell this whole
project was a labor of love by some very talented people
who just didn't happen to be born in a richer country --
they do wonders with their smaller rendering processors.

Nico can hardly believe he
really made it, and rushes over to the Reindeer Runway to
meet his dad. The reindeer are out practicing with a
dummy Santa, and weren't planning on having an
obstruction greet them when they arrived back. After a
calamity, they agree to talk.

This time, Santa's
reindeer are depicted as fratty bro-dudes who spend most
of their time working out, when they're not chilling in
their bar drinking carbonated tree sap (your guess on the
inebriation that provides is as good as mine). They
immediately recognize Wanda, who puts money in the bar
jukebox and starts singing for them like old times -- but
this time, the lyrics are a bit different. They start
getting confused looks on their faces as the song
concludes in:

"One of you is Nico's
daddy! Yes, one of you is Nico's dadddyyyyyyy!"

"It's...it's
true," says Nico. "At least I think it's
true."

All the reindeer look very
surprised and somewhat skeptical. "That's
impossible, none of us have any kids."

"Well, do you
remember taking a young lady reindeer flying one
Christmas?"

"Yeah.....thousands
of times," they all say. Then it's not only
possible, there are likely 63,079 Nicos running around
the Arctic, but they still feign innocence.

Nico desperately insists
it HAS to be true -- he's come too far to be proven
wrong. One of the reindeer bros points out that since the
gift of flight is passed down through their children,
Nico should be able to fly. If he can do it in front of
them, that will prove one of them is his father.

"The key to taking
off is FEARLESSNESS," one reindeer hints, as Nico
prepares to jump. "As long as far grips you, you
won't be able to fly."
That long drop isn't relieving this problem. Nico gets
extremely nervous and falls, and another reindeer has to
fly down and rescue him. Nico begins to think that maybe
he isn't related to the Flying Forces after all.

Oh yeah, that other thing.
"THE WOLVES! Some WOLVES are after you guys!"
"Too bad for them, then. No wolf has ever broken
through the caves," they insist.

There's a first time for
everything. Back at the caves, Black Wolf furiously
pounds on the crystal door imprisoning him, letting out a
giant howl. This howl is somehow strong enough to shatter
crystal, so the door breaks down. Some wolf trap.

Just as Nico is
sorrowfully turning to leave, the wolves arrive. Santa's
reindeer are caught totally off guard and can only stand
there, frozen. They can only fly if they're unafraid, and
they're yellowing the snow this very second. WHO CAN SAVE
THEM? ....well, it's obvious.

Nico hollers in their
direction. Astonished and angry to find him and his
friends alive, they start chasing them instead. As
before, Nico and the small rodents are no match for
clawed, fanged canines, but they can slow them down at
least. It's a climactic ten minutes of one-upsmanship and
narrow escapes that I'm running out of time to describe.
Just trust me and watch this special sometime -- it's
good, really.

Eventually Black Wolf
corners Nico at the top of a large tree. As Nico is
struggling to stay out of his reach, the top branch snaps
and he tumbles while Black Wolf laughs in triumph! Of
course, THIS is the moment when Nico learns to
fly----OUCH, nope, I guess not.

The TRUE moment he learns
to fly is when the wolves take control of Santa's sleigh
and are about to eat Julius. With his father figure in
danger, he can't resist the urge to be brave and
fearless, and takes off like a shot. ...AFTER he falls
off a large cliff of course; it needed something extra.

Black Wolf falls off the
sleigh and through the clouds to his presumed demise.
Santa's reindeer are saved and start whooping cheers for
their new friends.

"Hey," says one
of them to Nico. "My name's Prancer, but you can
call me....Dad."
"YOU'RE my dad?" Nico says overjoyed.
"Yeah.....yeah, I guess so," Prancer says
sheepishly. He's stocking up on rubbers from now on.

Nico has a new home with
Santa's sleigh team.....but is it really what he wants?

Of course not; as thrilled
as Nico is to finally meet his real father, he'll always
value Julius as the one who raised him. Julius figures
Nico is gone forever, but after a test ride in the sleigh
with the other Reindeer Bro-Dudes, he returns to the
herd. He can always revisit Santa's Fell whenever he
wants; I mean, he can FLY there now.

End-of-movie couplings:
Specs and Poodle; Julius and Wanda.

Why didn't it fit in?Well, it still has time to -- CBS
hasn't stopped airing it yet and they usually slot it
after Frosty.

You know what makes this so good? This
perfectly captures what Santa feels like to a little
child. To kids he's this far-off, awe-inspiring
superbeing, and the epic feel of The Flight Before
Christmas evokes that childlike sensation to viewers
of any age. If you see it, buy it! You can always swap
out the cover.